Mayweather-Ortiz PPV results: Approximately 1.15 million buys

By Chris Williams: According to the latest boxing news, the September 17th clash between Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KO’s) and Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO’s) brought in a respectable 1.15 million pay per view buys.

This is a far different number compared to the 850,000 PPV buys that the Mayweather-Ortiz was rumored to have brought in several weeks ago.

These numbers make a lot more sense because we’re talking about boxing’s cash cow in Mayweather, who is second to none in capturing the boxing public’s interest. The Ortiz-Mayweather fight was much more talked about than the upcoming Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fight at the same stage and it was helped with advertising on regular cable.

Sports Illustrated is the one that has dug up a much more realistic number than the numbers floated around recently. Given that Mayweather was pretty much the guy doing all the real marketing of the fight due to his charisma and the way he played the villain so perfectly, it’s admirable that the Mayweather-Ortiz fight did even this good.

You have to remember that Ortiz isn’t a big star and Mayweather was on his own here without someone popular and/or well known like Shane Mosley to try and lure boxing fans to purchase the Mayweather-Ortiz fight on PPV. I think Mayweather did a heck of a good job in getting that many boxing fans. If Mayweather can bring in those kinds of excellent numbers fighting an unknown fighter like Ortiz, can you imagine the kinds of numbers Mayweather would suck in if he were to face guys like Amir Khan and Manny Pacquiao? We’re talking high 1.8 to 2.0 in terms of millions of buys.